Johnny Ludden of Yahoo! Sports: “The Magic have now beaten the Cavs four times in six games this season, seven times in nine games dating back to last season. That’s not an accident. It’s a trend. And if the first three games of this series are any indication, these Cavs are beginning to look like the Cavs of two years ago. Once again, LeBron is searching for LeHelp. ‘There’s only one of me,’ James said in the locker room shortly before Game 3. ‘… If I could clone myself, we’d be all right.’ James laughed when he made the comment, but, still, no one believes in the greatness of LeBron more than LeBron. If his teammates didn’t take it as an insult, they should. James scored 41 points in Sunday’s loss, which came two games after he scored 49 and also lost. Ninety points apparently doesn’t get you what it used to, even in a recession. Mo Williams missed 11 of 16 shots. Zydrunas Ilgauskas missed seven of his 10. James made only 11 of 28 himself, but he also lowered his head time and again and bulled his way to the foul line for 24 free throws. Had he not missed five of those foul shots in the fourth quarter, the Cavs very well might have won, but this was more on his teammates than him.”
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Seriously, have you ever seen so many invisible fouls? Dwight Howard fouled out on a phantom call on LeBron. Hedo Turkoglu was called for another. During a timeout while the Magic dancers were on the floor, LeBron actually walked right through the middle of their routine. Amazingly, none of the dancers were whistled for a foul. When asked if he wanted to comment on the imperceptible fouls on LeBron, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy replied tellingly, ‘No, but you can. You write a column. The league won’t fine you $25,000. You guys see it. Write what you saw.’ Give Van Gundy and the Magic credit. They are the only ones in the league who refuse to be LeBron’s LeBootlicker. Gotta love Van Gundy barking at his team and telling them to quit being LeBron’s ‘witnesses’ during Game 1. Or Dwight actually snarling at LeBron when the two got tangled up Sunday night. This why the Magic own the Cavs. This is why they’ve beaten them 10 of the last 14 times they’ve played. They don’t kneel down and kiss LeBron’s Nikes. They may give him his points (41 on Sunday), but they don’t give him their genuflection.”
Ian Thomsen of SI.com: “Though James had 41 points while earning 24 of his team’s 35 free-throw attempts, the dominant player of this game was Howard. For one possession after another after another he brought the game to a halt, put points on the board and enabled his defense to set up around him in the halfcourt. He became the go-to running back who chewed up yards while running out the clock to maintain his team’s lead. During the pregame warmup he had focused on making his free throws to the exclusion of all else, like a golfer concentrating on four-footers at the practice green. When it came time to shoot them for real, he found a new way to relax. ‘I didn’t think about it,’ he said. ‘I was actually singing a song tonight in my head. It was a song I heard at halftime, one of the dance songs. I kept thinking about dancing the whole time, and free throws (were) going in, so I might need to keep up that routine.’ The question this season has been whether Howard at age 23 is ready to lead a team to the championship when he still has so much more to learn. But maybe he is an exceptionally fast learner, and maybe it’s not such a long-shot to think they’ll be playing that same halftime dance song to celebrate a parade through Orlando next month.”
Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! Sports: “Cleveland lost this game because it didn’t play smart, efficient basketball, down the stretch. And James, as the team’s leader and most talented player, was the biggest culprit. The odd perimeter make led him to believe himself Dirk Nowitzki(notes), again, and it wasn’t happening. The perimeter shots just were not falling, and despite his best effort, he still submarined his team’s chances. Now, a lot of you will rightfully toss back, “he dropped 41. The Cavs aren’t in it without him.” Fine. We know this. Doesn’t excuse the bad decisions, late. Listen, those days are over. The days of just crediting LeBron for keeping his team in the game despite matchup or talent disadvantages should be way, way in the past. Yes, he scored 41 points, and in the end scoring 41 points on 28 shots is pretty good despite his mark from the floor (39.3 percent). But he was supposed to score 50. He was supposed to take it to the rim, late. He has the smarts to know how to turn a great game into a winning game. He declined to use that knowledge. At this point in his career, James has ceased to be the wunderkind, and it’s time for the expectations to match the talent and the smarts that he obviously has.”
Todd Spehr for SLAM: “To say Mo Williams left his jumper in Cleveland would be wrong. He didn’t have it there. And it’s not in Atlanta, because he didn’t have it there, either. Really, Williams hasn’t seen the thing in about three weeks. But he probably would want to find it soon; he was 5-for-16 on Sunday, his night more notable for head-butting Anthony Johnson’s elbow and his subsequent ‘bigger fish to fry’ post-game chirp. LeBron’s amazing series, where he’s dropping nearly 42-7-5 nightly, is in part due to Williams’ offensive ineptitude. But that ineptitude doesn’t roll one-deep – a fact further enhanced in Game 3. West has struggled with his shot, ditto for Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and that so-called deeper rotation was good for more fouls (10) than points (8) on Sunday. Teams usually buckle at the sight of a defining effort from James; if anything, Orlando has welcomed it. They’re almost ‘Nash-ing’ LeBron – you get yours, we’ll shut down the others. But remember, it’s only 2-1. Cleveland is a win from getting home court back, but also one loss from near-extinction. This is the NBA, and it’s the playoffs; adjustments are made, things are tweaked. But how about Cleveland just finding their swagger? As silly as it sounds, where is that ‘stupid’ confidence they exhibited all year?”
Ira Winderman of NBCSports.com: “‘There’s no room for excuses at this point of the season,’ James said. ‘I hope and I think guys are going to be confident about every shot they take.’ This is, of course, nothing new for the Cavaliers. Against Atlanta in the previous round, James averaged 33.8 points, no teammate more than Delonte West’s 15. In the first round, James finished at 32.0 against the Pistons, with Mo Williams next at 14.8. But wasn’t this the season when Danny Ferry was going to lighten the load, when a comfort zone was going to make James so comfortable that any thoughts of a 2010 escape act would be erased? Understand, James is now two losses from one of the most uncomfortable summers in Cleveland history, and we’re not talking about humidity and gnats or the Indians. Think the 2010 free-agency talk was over the top this season? Wait until next season’s road swings, when James will be pestered by, ‘LeBron, if you don’t make it to the Finals this season…’ to be followed by, ‘… would you then think about playing in (fill in city being visited at the time)?’ The answer last summer was supposed to have been Williams. During the regular season, the former Bucks guard was a pretty good answer, an All-Star answer. But this is a different level, perhaps not a Mo Williams level.”
Jeff Eisenberg of The Press Enterprise: “Kobe Bryant strode into the Pepsi Center and made a beeline for the nearest courtside seat, still weary the morning after a scintillating 41-point performance he called the most physically draining of his career. … ‘I’ve been playing for two or three years nonstop,’ Bryant said. ‘The physical series we had against Houston and then (Denver) grabbing and holding more than the Houston series, it’s tough. It’s been a really physical series. They’re making me work for everything.’ Bryant was one of several Lakers still feeling the effects of Saturday night’s all-out effort to erase an eight-point second-half deficit and emerge with a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals. Pau Gasol acknowledged ‘heavy legs’ after 44- and 43-minute outings in Games 2 and 3, while Trevor Ariza’s lingering stiffness and soreness in his hips and groin had improved a bit after two rounds of treatment. While Nuggets coach George Karl couldn’t hide his disappointment at dropping a game he believes his team should have won, he takes solace in the signs of fatigue shown by the Lakers. Karl said his team is deeper, fresher and better prepared for a long series, making it pivotal for the Nuggets to even it Monday night instead of falling into a 3-1 hole.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “The Nuggets study more film than Ebert & Roeper ever did. Led by Dean Oliver, one of the leading quantitative analysis guys in this new Moneyball era of basketball, they chart, study and dissect every conceivable matchup in pursuit of the slightest edge. So naturally, while they found some uses for video of the Lakers’ conference semifinals series against Houston, they actually spent more time studying what worked for a different opponent — one that was actually successful in derailing L.A.’s pursuit of a championship. ‘We studied Houston,’ Nuggets coach George Karl said. ‘But I think the film that we studied more is Boston. We think we play more like Boston than Houston. We studied the Boston tapes from last year more than the Houston tapes.’ Therein, the Nuggets found what they hope and believe are some useful strategic tools that, if properly deployed, can transform the Western Conference finals into the long, grueling series that many predicted it will be. The Lakers lead 2-1 heading into a pivotal Game 4 on Monday night in Denver, so it’s now or never if those pearls of wisdom that jumped off the screen in the Nuggets’ video room are going to translate to the floor.”
Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post: “Denver’s problem in Game 3 was miscommunication. Kenyon Martin’s pass to Carmelo Anthony was based on the assumption Anthony was fading toward the midcourt line to get the ball. Instead, Anthony curled and Martin’s pass was off-target. Nuggets coach George Karl drew up a play where Anthony could catch and score quickly so Denver could get two possessions to the Lakers’ one. ‘I’m still thinking 2-for-1 was the way to go,’ Karl said Sunday. Inbounds plays depend on where the ball is — in the frontcourt, the backcourt, the baseline or sideline. A garden-variety sideline inbounds pass has three options: a player at the strong side corner, one at the medium post and one at midcourt/backcourt. The Nuggets had all three options. ‘To me, technically they’d done everything right,’ ESPN analyst and former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy said. ‘To me, those steals would have taken place whether he went into the backcourt or not.’”
Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: “Denver Coach George Karl talked to his team Sunday, a few others talked about the task ahead and then the Nuggets watched some film of the Game 3 defeat. They came to the conclusion that they must be smarter and that they relied on the three-point shot too much. Billups said the Nuggets were ‘taking chances trying to hit the dagger’ against the Lakers in hopes of putting them away. Denver was five for 27 from three-point range, one for eight in a fourth quarter in which it made only 22.7% (five for 22) of its shots. Then there were the senseless three technical fouls that gave the Lakers three easy points. ‘The little things [like] our mental competitive maturity,’ Karl said. ‘We went below the line with the technicals. I think we got caught up in the emotion of the moment, a great crowd, a great challenge and I think we tried to hit too many home runs rather than just take a single here, a double there and win the game that way.’ The Lakers also did a much better job containing Anthony, holding him to 21 points on four-for-13 shooting. He had averaged 36.5 points in the first two games. ‘They probably doubled me a little bit more,’ Anthony said. ‘But they didn’t do anything differently.’”
Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic: “‘If I’m a loser for four consecutive seasons, then maybe I should examine it. This team is part of the city, and if you’re not doing a good job at what you’re doing, then maybe you have to get out.’ Pressed on those comments, Sarver backed off, saying that such self-analysis is always necessary. ‘I think I’ve had a pretty good five years,’ he said. Contrary to some speculation, Sarver says reports of his financial demise are greatly exaggerated. He refutes whispers that the team soon will be for sale, and he says that he’s looking to sell a reacquired ownership share of only 5 percent. And while he admits the banking business ‘is tough,’ he says his real-estate ventures are doing just fine. ‘I had done 13 real-estate funds since 1991. I sold them all. I was sitting with zero a few years’ back,’ Sarver said. ‘And for the first time we’ve seen meaningful statistical information that the Phoenix real-estate market is getting better, and I think that’s the beginning of our recovery.’ Yet, the basketball team remains a conundrum. The Suns are expecting to lose more than 20 percent of season-ticket renewals. They are hoping to finish with a 70 percent renewal rate, and that will take some effort.”
Ray Rotto of the San Francisco Chronicle: “The Warriors are in a position of extraordinary weakness here and not only don’t see it, they are putting their hands over their ears and singing loudly to drown out the noise. The economy is bad. Their results are bad. Their word-of-mouth is bad. Their chief officers are easy to caricature and lampoon because they live the caricatures so proudly. Even their method of customer relations, the conference call with season-ticket holders, misreads the audience because it puts up yet another wall between them and their last line of loyal adherents. They should be showing up everywhere for anyone who will have them all summer long, not doing a one-off over the phone. The Warriors front office is running a public enterprise yet doesn’t like being in the public. They won’t sell the enterprise yet they won’t try to run it any better. They wear their failure like barbed wire to keep people away, while asking those people to keep throwing money at the wire. With all of these things as their real legacy, a not-so-anonymous Internet posting seems benign, yet still in character with the rest of the operation.”
Don Seeholzer of the Pioneer Press: “Walsh, now president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks, is more than Kahn’s mentor. He’s also a fan. ‘I think it’s a perfect time to bring a guy like David in,’ Walsh said of the hire. ‘I think he’s very knowledgeable about the league, the talent in the league, and I’m sure in trying to get this job correctly sees what stage the Minnesota Timberwolves are in now and will be very well-equipped to take it from there to the next level.’ Asked to describe Kahn’s personality, Walsh had a one-word answer: ‘Intelligence.’ So, what can Wolves fans expect from the team’s new boss? ‘A clear idea of how things have to work and how people have to combine together so you’re using their best abilities to produce a winning team,’ Walsh said. ‘It starts in the front office, then you hire a coach and get the players. It really does proceed from your front office on how effective you’re going to be and how together you’re going to be. I’m sure that will happen pretty quickly with Minnesota, and usually the team will follow that. They have a lot of good players there. It will be that kind of situation.’”
Mike Moreau of HOOPSWORLD: “The best organizations in basketball invest in their people, and they create a culture that permeates throughout the team – from Judy and Wilson at the airport, to Vinnie who set me up in the film room and taught me the ‘Father Judge’ drill, to B.K. who ran the meetings and the workouts like we were preparing for the NBA Finals. This mentality and culture in Oklahoma City runs all the way from top to bottom through the organization. How do I know that? Because when Sam Presti and Scott Brooks arrived from New York, after learning they had moved up to the third pick in the draft, nothing changed. Sam and Scott addressed the coaches and interacted with the players as if we were the key to their future success. Even though the decisions they make regarding the third pick in this year’s draft is the most crucial decision the Thunder will make in the next month, they made our meetings and the information shared regarding those free agents seem just as important. This is where the winning culture starts – from management, to the support personnel, to the coaches, and to the players.”
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer: “The Cavaliers’ new business partner is a huge multinational corporation with billions in assets. According to multiple NBA sources, the team’s central new Chinese investor is New World Development Company, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate. It has over $21 billion in assets in hotels, convention properties, department stores, telecommunications, infrastructure projects and even financial services mostly in Southeast Asia. New World owns a string of Marriott-brand hotels in Hong Kong, Beijing and Manila along with other brands that would be familiar to Americans, including a Hyatt. They are known in mainland China for their department stores in 17 different cities. In other words, it is a financial powerhouse with numerous ways to take advantage of its pending investment in the NBA. Combined with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, whose Quicken Loans company weathered the mortgage crisis and emerged with more market share, the Cavs potentially will have some of the deepest backing of all the teams in the NBA.”
